For Goodness' Sake

Is it what we seek to achieve or how we choose to achieve it that matters most?

But Peter said to him, "May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain God's gift with money! You have no part or share in this, for your heart is not right before God.  - Acts 8:20-21

Peter and John found themselves among the people of Samaria, where they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.  It was there that one of the men, Simon, sought to buy the secret to this gift from them.

Wanting the gift was not the problem so much as thinking he could buy it with silver.  How he came to it mattered.

So what is the lesson for us in this?  Is there something we seek that is good, but how we seek it is not?

In other words, is there a worthwhile objective I am striving for, but I am doing it the wrong way?

What Peter is telling Simon is the end doesn't justify the means.  How and why we want what we want makes all the difference in the world, and in God's eyes as well.

Doing good for one's own sake is not the same as doing good for goodness' sake.

It is easy to get caught up in the do-good-to-feel-good trap, where we seek to stoke the flames of our own egos while helping others or by helping others.

Now, I realize we all feel good after we do good, and we may even want to do good again knowing how it will make us feel, so the temptation to put our interests above the interests of those we serve is there.  I am sure Peter and John felt good when the Spirit came upon those they touched, but there is a difference.

When in my heart and mind and soul I seek to be an instrument of God, the outcome, no matter how rewarding it feels for me, is His and not mine.  If I walk away feeling good, I should be feeling good for God and for those He helped, and if there is any good feeling left over, that can be for me.

Well, now that we have cleared that up, I have to get ready to go out and feel good for God.

More to come...